Chapter 41
Chapter 41
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 41
Chapter Title: School's King
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Sulfuric acid.
It was one of the three major strong acids, alongside hydrochloric and nitric acid. A terrifying substance that stripped hydrogen and carbon from its target, turning it into a lump of charcoal.
I filled part of it into a chemical-resistant plastic syringe and brought it in front of Jin Kyung-pil.
"Just in case, I'll give you some medicine, Kyung-pil. It'd be a problem if your limbs gave out."
"Guh, wh-what? What the fuck is this, you bastard!"
"Oh, this? Sulfuric acid."
"What...? S-sulfuric acid?"
Pfook!
The plastic needle plunged mercilessly deep into the inner groin area, from inside to out. Hitting an artery would kill him instantly, and even a vein would do the same. It had to be injected precisely into the joint capsule.
"Around here, I guess."
Something snagged, then crunch—with a sensation of it burrowing between the joints. Looked like it had gone in nicely.
"Grrrrrgh, w-wait, just a sec, st-stop, d-don't..."
"Yeah, it's gonna sting a bit. Hang in there."
"Don't! Don't do it! You fucking bastard—don't!! Don't—!"
Slooooowly...
"────────!!!"
Sizzle...
The sound of something bubbling and boiling. With this, his right leg was permanently crippled. Unless it was a top-tier healing specialization... shoving sulfuric acid into a sliced-open joint made self-recovery impossible.
Tremble tremble tremble.
Pssshhh...
The enhanced hearing picked up the bubbling boil. Probably reacting with the body's moisture.
"──!! Uwaaaagh—uuu,──Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh──!!"
The scream came out a beat late.
Sound pressure enough to tear the vocal cords. Blood sprayed from his throat as he bellowed, but that pain was nothing compared to the agony ripping through his pelvis and groin right now.
This level of pain wasn't just some minor skin-signal electricity.
The entire central nervous system, from spine to brain, was screaming.
Every nerve and cell in his body boiled by the sulfuric acid, oil pouring into the gaps between twisted muscle fibers in the fascia—like a hell of boiling cauldrons.
Actually injecting it straight into the body with a syringe meant he was feeling something just like that.
"There, right side done. Three more to go. Hang in there a bit longer. And tone down the screaming. It's noisy."
"Aaaagh, kaaaaagh──! Y-you,bast... fuck...ing..."
Blood vessels in both eyes burst, tears of blood streaming down.
My chest swelled with ecstasy.
"If you made someone else shed bloody tears, you should've been prepared to do the same."
Now for the left leg.
Plunge!
"Guhhh, h-hey, hey, Yu-hyeon. Hoo, hoo, Sh-Shin Yu-hyeon, it's me, Jin Kyung-pil... guhhh... why're you doing this? Huh?"
"? What're you talking about?"
"We were close, what're you doing, why to me!!"
What the hell was this bastard saying?
After letting him personally learn how many bones were in the body and how long it took for them to reattach over a year—doesn't that count as being close? Was he cracking some joke like that? In this situation?
"Damn, Jin Kyung-pil's still alive. Got some guts. Still got the leisure to spout nonsense."
Slooooowly!
Sulfuric acid pushed relentlessly between Jin Kyung-pil's joints again.
Pssshhh!
"──Grglk! Guuuuuuugh──! Gaaaaaaaagh──!!"
Now the shoulder. Had to be careful here.
He could still move his neck, so he might try to bite my hand or something.
Oh right, better pull all his teeth later.
"Hahk, hahk, gaaaaagh! Y-Yu, Yu-hyeon, Shin Yu-hyeon! You fucking shit guhhh, what the hell're you doing, fuck... haa, snap out of it, haa, you got something against me? Huh?"
Something other than rage and hatred flickered in his remaining eye.
'Confusion?'
"What?"
...Hold on.
This bastard seemed dead serious...
A question forcibly wrung from convulsing facial muscles and vocal cords amid unimaginable pain. Not just gutsy posturing...
'Does this fucker really think we were close friends?'
Needed to ask.
"Hey, were we close?"
"Guhhhh, uuuuuaaaagh."
Grind crunch grind.
He clenched so hard his teeth were cracking.
With the chemical injected, pain intensified in the affected areas over time, eyes rolling back. Might go into shock from the pain.
I pulled out another syringe.
"Dumbass. I'll help you out a bit."
Needed answers, after all.
Rolled him roughly to the side and stuck the needle between his vertebrae.
5 seconds. 10 seconds.
"Hahk, hahk... uh... uuu."
Fentanyl citrate.
The ultra-potent painkiller commonly called fentanyl. Guaranteed rapid relief via spinal injection.
"Hey, you with it now? So, what? Say it again. Were we close?"
"Hahk, hey Yu-hyeon, we were friends all through high school, ugh, what're you talking about, why're you doing this to me? Did you get hit by some mental ability? Huh!?"
His facial mucous membranes had all burst from the extreme pain—eyes, nose, mouth, everything blood-soaked. Mixing bloody tears, nosebleeds, coughing up blood, genuinely baffled.
That bafflement itself proved he wasn't making it up. No one, not with his personality or anyone's, would talk like that to someone inflicting this agony.
They'd explode in rage and curses, or force a grin to appease and beg forgiveness. That'd be normal.
But this guy was questioning me.
'This is weird.'
"Hey, what'd we do together in high school?"
"What? What the hell're you saying?"
The spinal fentanyl worked so well his breathing stabilized, conversation flowing calmly now.
"Shut up and answer."
"We... met up with girls, drank booze..."
Met girls? Drank booze?
"Yeah, and what else?"
"And that... we beat up the school-certified shuttle bitch together. Why ask this? You really get hit by something? Let me go now and I'll pretend it didn't happen. I know a mental-healing Awakener, I'll assign him to you full-time..."
His follow-up words barely registered.
It was clear.
Jin Kyung-pil had been mentally manipulated, just like Shin Nari.
The mystery was: why in everyone's memories was I a sex criminal who died in a contaminated area two years ago, but in his head, a close friend?
"......We were definitely close...... why're you doing this...... our clan...... give you 10 million......"
Ultra-enhanced focus erased all senses.
Vision bleached white. Hearing shut off. The stale sweat and acrid sulfuric fumes vanished.
Didn't know the maxed Mental Power stat did this, but whatever.
Alright, let's think.
First, I won't assume all my memories from the past year were fabricated. If erased, maybe, but with endgame Mental Power, I'd sense any tampered distortion. This memory feels real.
Why's everything intact except info on that person wiped?
Deliberately to torment me, or figured I'd die wandering the contaminated area back then, or both.
Thoughts shifted to the next point.
Unlike Jin Kyung-pil, Shin Nari and Aurora saw me as a sex criminal.
What's common between Shin Nari and Aurora?
Women.
Difference?
Shin Nari doesn't remember the one who set her and Aurora up as a team for the false sex crime trap.
Aurora seems to.
What's the gap-creating difference between them?
Personality, looks, trivial traits flashed through my mind and gone.
No, not important.
What else?
Something... more decisive.
"Ah."
'Awakening trait.'
Yes. That's the biggest difference.
Both have mental abilities, but
Shin Nari's a lower-grade passive defensive Awakener.
Aurora's rarer high-grade active offensive type.
Thoughts accelerated like steam from my ears.
Mental Power influence—no pain.
In parallel thought streams, deductions branched out.
Aurora: Witchblade Awakener. Applies debuffs to 'physical attacks.'
This works not just swords or knuckles—any skin contact counts as 'physical attack' for debuffs.
That's why some Slaying Witch Awakeners are martial artists.
Meaning...
'Avoided direct contact with Aurora.'
Why?
Simple.
To eliminate any chance of suspicious Aurora countering with high-risk debuffs like madness during mental manipulation.
So, that person's mental manipulation requires direct contact. No remote activation.
One positive assumption, one negative.
Positive: weakness in their mental manipulation.
Negative: extremely cautious personality, blocks even tiny counter openings in advance.
...Tough opponent.
Like me. Vile fighter who pre-plans to eliminate all failure possibilities.
Meticulous in scouting prey traits before approaching.
Mouth went dry. Trickier than unique/powerful trait holders.
Anyway, boils down to Aurora.
No other Lilac High students with similar offensive mental traits in my info.
Only her had means against 'School's King' mental control.
Conclusion: she's the only one with intact info.
Thoughts sorted, focus ebbed like receding tide.
Like untying wrists bound too long—head felt that relief.
"Hoo..."
Goal set.
Vision cleared.
Mind sharpened.
Subjugate Jin Kyung-pil and Aurora ASAP.
One for physical power, one for tactical edge.
Different methods each.
"Hey, Shin Yu-hyeon, you listening? We're besties, fuck! Answer me!"
Smack!
Smashed the nonsense-spouter's jaw.
"Shut up, retard. Besties my ass... talking shit."
Felt filthy. My revenge target truly believing manipulated memories, calling me bestie—fucking gross.
Jin Kyung-pil still pleading friendship despite joints melted by acid—my revenge lost its heat.
If the slapped doesn't know why, the slapper just looks pathetic.
Even without full remorse, at least weep and atone for wrongs—that's revenge.
But this absurd scene—what?
"Fucking hell."
'School's King.'
Whoever it was, that bastard's fault.
Veins bulged on forehead, curses spilling.
Dare ruin my revenge like this?
Wait.
Whoever you are, I'll crush and destroy every fragment of your life.
I'd already lifted the acid syringe, eyes bloodshot as his.
"Let's finish quick. 'Friend.' Long road ahead."
Now to deal with Aurora.
His screams were long.